


to another one

by 101places



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Humor, It's ok though it's, New Year's Eve, New Year's Fluff, New Year's Kiss, Post-Canon, SciOps, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, season 4, season 5, season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22070563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: FitzSimmons celebrate the new year over the years.( AKA : happy new year! )
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Kudos: 33





	to another one

**Author's Note:**

> i hope all of you have a great 2020!!
> 
> as always, comments/kudos give me hope for the upcoming year!

**2012**

Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons had known one another for a few years but, until today, they had never spent New Years together.

While they were at the Academy, the term ended before Christmas. By the time New Years came around, they were both back home in Scotland and England, respectively, and though they texted and called one another frequently, they weren’t physically together.

Even when they left the Academy, they arranged to have the two-weeks over the holiday period off work, to give them time to return home and spend the holidays with their families. And the arrangement worked just fine for years. Until now.

However, after the presumed-dead Captain America had been found in the ice, work at SHIELD became more hectic. Getting time off, especially over the holiday period, became more difficult, and while Simmons was able to get them both a few days off over Christmas, getting any more time off was out of the question.

In all honesty, Fitz wasn’t too upset about the arrangement. Yes, it was a shame that he couldn’t spend longer with his mother, and the disruption to his regular routine was an annoyance, but his mother understood the situation, and he knew that there would be more time to spend with her in the future. It would have been nice to have spent New Years with her, but it wasn’t the end of the world that he couldn’t.

Simmons claimed that she felt the same way, but he knew her better than he knew himself. He could tell that she was upset. She was less talkative as they worked, barely responding to his comments - even the ones that were extremely witty got little more than a nod.

The silence continued through the work day and during their journey back to their shared flat. When they arrived, Simmons excused herself to her room, claiming that she was tired and wanted to rest, but when Fitz passed by her door half an hour later, he could hear the muffled sound of her TV.

He could guess what she was upset about.

Simmons valued time with her family and, as he had noticed right at the beginning of their friendship, she enjoyed her routines. Fitz would put money on her being upset that she hadn’t been able to get the time off to spend the holidays with her family.

There wasn’t much that Fitz could do about that. He couldn’t bring her family here, and he couldn’t take her to them. But, he thought, maybe there was something he could do to help raise her mood.

He called out that he was going out. He received no response from his room-mate, but that was fine - he hadn’t been expecting one in the first place.

He wanted to be back by 10:30pm, to give him to set everything up well before midnight struck. That gave him a few hours to collect his supplies - more than enough time.

Fitz made his way around the local shops, buying what he’d need for his plan, and made it back to the flat by 10pm. It didn’t look like Simmons had been out of her room, but Fitz could still hear the muffled sound of the TV from under her door. Quietly, Fitz began to prepare what he’d brought.

It took an hour, but finally, Fitz’s preparations were complete. He approached Simmons room and knocked on the door gently. For a few moments there was no response, and Fitz had a moment of fear when he considered that Simmons may have fallen asleep with the TV on, and that all of his preparations had been for nothing. 

But, then, he heard her call out, “Come in.”

Fitz opened the door a crack and stuck his head into the room. He could see an old episode of Doctor Who on her TV, that she’d paused when he’d knocked.

“Can you, uh, come out here for- just for a second?”

Simmons frowned. “Why?”

“You’ll see!” Fitz responded quickly, backing away from the door. He knew that she’d be too curious to resist coming out.

Just as he’d expected, Simmons left her room and came out into the living room, looking around at Fitz’s handiwork with surprise.

The room was set up like they were hosting a party. There was a banner on the wall - ‘Birthday Boy’, it read, as there had been no Happy New Year banners left - and colourful streamers hanging down from the lights. On the table, was a selection of party food, arranged so the different coloured foods looked vaguely like fireworks in the night sky.

Simmons looked around the room. “Well… the banner’s completely wrong, and the streamers are definitely a fire hazard.” She began. “But… this was for me?”

Fitz nodded. “Yeah. I know it sucks that we couldn’t go back home this year, but… just because you can’t spend it with your family, it doesn’t mean you have to spend New Years alone.”

“That’s awfully sweet of you.” Simmons smiled at him. “Now, help me take down the streamers?”

After taking the streamers down, enjoying Fitz’s quickly-made meal of party food, and chatting, it was getting closer and closer to midnight. Fitz and Simmons made their way to their little balcony, stepping outside and looking out as fireworks launched up over the city skyline.

**2013**

The following year, Simmons put forwards her application for holiday leave earlier that was necessary by anyone’s standards, and insisted that Fitz do the same, so even while most of their peers were forced to stay behind at SciOps over the holiday period, Fitz and Simmons were able to go back home to spend time with their families.

While waiting at the airport for the flight home, Simmons had been struck with a spur-of-the-moment decision. It had taken a bit of work to convince Fitz of its merits, but eventually she had succeeded - because even now, Fitz would do anything that she asked of him.

Which was how they ended up crowded around by the side of the Thames, packed in by hundreds of other excited people, waiting to watch London’s New Years fireworks display.

They had been waiting all day, due to Simmons insisting that they get there early to make sure they had a good spot. Fitz had spent most of the day complaining, but he had to admit that now it was coming close to midnight, the atmosphere around them was  _ almost _ worth it.

Fitz kept his eyes on the illuminated countdown, watching the time come closer and closer to the New Year. Simmons, on the other hand, had turned her attention to the crowds around her. Around them, she was beginning to notice, were couples. A lot of couples.

The minutes became seconds, and around them, the crowd began to count down loudly, but still, Simmons focus was on the crowd around them.

_ Five _ .

To her right, a woman began to twirl with her girlfriend’s hair.

_ Four _ .

A man took a step closer to his partner.

_ Three _ .

A woman leaned in to kiss her partner.

_ Two _ .

“Hey, that’s too early!” Came a laugh in response.

_ One _ .

Working on impulse alone, Simmons turned to Fitz, and kissed him squarely on the lips. She pulled back, and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get any words out the roar of the fireworks drowned him out.

Simmons turned her gaze away, looking at the beautiful firework display in front of her, and didn’t notice how Fitz just watched the way the lights illuminated her face, looking away only when  _ Auld Lang Syne _ began to play.   
  


**2014**

Over the past few months, things had changed drastically. FitzSimmons were no longer confined to their regular, non-mobile lab at SciOps. Now, they were part of a field team, travelling everywhere and solving problems wherever they found them. Helping people on the front lines.

It was something that Simmons loved, despite the danger, though she found that there was a slight problem with it tonight.

“We’re probably going to pass through another time zone before midnight strikes.” Simmons was speaking to Fitz, a little frown on her face. “I have to admit that I’m not sure when we should celebrate.”

“The tech should update automatically, but that’s not really going to be helpful. At this rate, we’ll end up flying right over the turn of the year altogether.” Fitz replied with his own little frown.

“What are you nerds doing?” A third voice spoke up, and FitzSimmons looked up to see Skye peering over at them curiously.

Fitz and Simmons glanced over at each other, before quickly summarising their issue to Daisy. Daisy hummed and took a seat on the sofa beside them.

“Yeah, sounds like you’ve got a problem there. But I have a solution. You guys are getting too caught up in the timings - who says you have to celebrate right on the dot of midnight?”

“Well, no one,” Simmons replied, “But we have a… well, I suppose it’s something of a  _ newer _ tradition, but we quite enjoy watching the fireworks. But… well, it’s unlikely that we’ll be flying low enough to see any, even if by some miracle we’re even flying over a city when it turns midnight.”

Skye shook her head and tutted, setting her laptop open on her lap. Fitz and Simmons crowded around to see what she was doing.

“Speaking of  _ traditions _ , Miles and I had one - yeah, I know, the guy was a dick, but that doesn’t mean the tradition was bad.” She typed on her laptop, opening up a webpage. “Here. A simulcast of every major cities fireworks display. Whenever it hits midnight somewhere, there’s a new display.”

“Oh! That’s quite smart!” Simmons said, seeming satisfied with this conclusion.

Fitz, however, was skeptical. “This is what  _ you _ did for fun?”

“It is fun!” Simmons protested.

“Yeah, but this is  _ Skye _ . What’s the catch?”

Skye laughed. “Okay, so, there are a few rules to it - but we turned it into a drinking game.”

Simmons rolled her eyes, but it didn’t take much for Skye to convince both her and Fitz to play with her. By the time midnight came around in their timezone, the three didn’t even notice, too busy draping themselves over each other and giggling.

Before long, they fell asleep on the sofa in the common area. In the early morning when May woke herself for her regular morning yoga sessions, she saw the trio laying uncomfortably, she rolled her eyes fondly and draped a blanket over their mess of tangled limbs.   
  


**2015**

Once again, things had changed, but this time, not for the better.

Betrayal, trauma, irreversible injury. It was so strange to think that so much could change in a year.

This year, Coulson had approached Simmons one-on-one, and given her the chance to go home for the holidays - but Simmons had turned him down. In all honesty, she didn’t feel as if she could see her parents while she felt like this, but anyway, Fitz was staying at the Playground. She couldn’t just leave him all alone, could she?

It took her a while to think of what she could do with him, though. She knew that he was more sensitive to sensory stimulus now - going to a fireworks display wouldn’t be a good idea - but that left her at a loss of what to suggest. Anything that people typically did on New Years didn’t seem like an option.

Then, she reflected on their past, and the answer hit her. It was a brilliant idea, she thought, and when he agreed to have a meal with her, she was over the moon with happiness. Finally, she could do something right by him. She could give him one good day.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Simmons was excited for the next few hours, but things quickly began to go against her plans.

Across the table, Fitz was shifting restlessly, and his hands were pulling at each other. Clearly, he was agitated by something.

“Fitz, what’s wrong?” Simmons asked gently.

“I-It’s- it- it’s- t-” Fitz curled one of his hands into a fist in frustration. “No- it’s-”

“Take your time.”

Fitz clenched his jaw for a moment, before trying again. “N- it-  _ loud _ .”

Simmons glanced around at the other patrons. It was true that some of them were getting rowdy - likely after one too many drinks. It  _ was _ New Years Eve, after all.

“I’ll see if I can sort something out.”

Simmons waved over their waiter and quickly explained the situation. He disappeared for a moment, before reappearing, showing them to another table further to the back of the restaurant, away from the bar, where it was quieter. They settled down again, and Fitz seemed to be calmer.

Simmons started chatting quietly, talking about whatever came to her mind, but the conversation was rather one-sided. Fitz couldn’t find words easily enough to have a conversation yet. She wasn’t even sure if he enjoyed listening to her prattle on, but she felt the need to fill the silence with something.

The rest of the meal was stressful - Simmons was beginning to regret this idea. Perhaps it was still too soon for Fitz to be somewhere like this. She didn’t think that he was enjoying his time out at all - when he managed to speak, it was always a complaint about something or other.

She didn’t blame him for it, but she was considering that she didn’t really know how to help Fitz at all.

She stayed silent on their walk back to where she’d parked her car, lost in her own thoughts and not aware of her surroundings at all. She would have continued to walk with her eyes downcast, but a tug at her arm cut into her thoughts and she looked over at Fitz, blinking out of her daze.

Now that she had been pulled back into reality, she could hear the popping of distant fireworks, and she looked up at the sky and saw the fireworks lighting up the night.

There was a soft smile on her face as she watched them and, to her side, Fitz was smiling, too. Though Simmons didn’t realise it, he had never cared about the meal. He had just wanted to spend time outside of the hospital with her, and to feel like himself again.   
  


**2016**

Another year came and went, and Fitz couldn’t imagine how his life could get worse.

His recovery after his brain injury was going more-or-less smoothly. He still struggled with his words and movements, but more often than not he could get there in the end. His bad days were becoming less frequent, and though his mood dysregulation still tripped him up, he had begun to learn the importance of taking a moment to calm himself before acting on how he felt.

Then, his world had been torn apart, and recovery stopped being something he thought of.

He’d think about recovery if he had to. If his injury was getting in the way of his work - because his work was now the most important thing in the world to him, because his work now had stakes more important than anything else relying on it, because failure meant something utterly unacceptable - but he wouldn’t focus on recovery to the detriment of his work. It, like everything else, was secondary to his work.

Though, there would be no more working tonight. Tonight, he had found himself at the Monolith containment room - it was a room that no one was allowed into, but Fitz knew that precaution was ridiculous. The monolith hadn’t reacted at all since it had taken Simmons away months ago. It wouldn’t react tonight, but… if it did, he thought that wouldn’t be so terrible, either.

He couldn’t help but wonder where Simmons was right now. It was all he ever thought about nowadays, but he wondered if she knew what day it was. He wondered if she was celebrating the New Year in her own way. He wondered if she was thinking about him.

He wondered if she was even out there. If she was even still out there to do, celebrate, or think. He wondered if he was already too late.

“I’m sorry.” Fitz said to the empty room. “I’m sorry I’m not smart enough to save you.”

For a while he stayed there, sitting on the floor in front of the Monolith, silently wishing that something would happen. Then, he heard footsteps in the corridor outside of the room. He wiped at his eyes quickly and stood up.

“Yeah? What do you want?” He asked, turning to face Hunter, who was standing in the doorway.

“I was about to pop open the champers.” Hunter replied.

Fitz shrugged, turning his back to Hunter and facing the Monolith. “Go ahead without me.”

There was silence in the room, before Hunter walked across, stopping a few feet away. “I’m worried about you, mate. Come back up with me. You can turn your head off for a few hours.”

“I’d really prefer to-”

“Wasn’t an offer.” Hunter cut in, grabbing Fitz by the wrist and tugging him out of the room, ignoring his protests.

By the time they reached the common area, Fitz had given up fighting back. “Fine. I’ll stay for an hour. Then I’m leaving.”

Hunter grinned. “Fine by me.” Then, he walked further into the room and spoke with a raised voice: “Who wants champaign?”

Fitz spent most of the hour at the side of the room, nursing a pint - because he really did not want to drink whatever champaign Hunter thought was worthwhile - and watching the festivities instead of taking part.

When the clock eventually struck midnight, Fitz could hear the distant sound of fireworks popping outside. He let his mind drift to previous years, and with a fresh resolve, realised that hope wasn’t lost yet. This was a new year. A fresh start. He’d find Simmons yet.   
  


**2017**

Too much had happened over the past year.

Yes, Fitz had succeeded in his mission, and he had saved Simmons. But so much death and despair had followed. Now, their team was divided. Their new leader was absolutely incompetent and, worst of all, Daisy was missing. But there was nothing to be done about that right now and, frankly, Fitz was just quietly impressed that Simmons had managed to get both of them time off. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d had days off together.

This year, Fitz had decided that it was about time to bring Simmons around to meet his mother. Their relationship may have only been on-going for a few months, but they’d known each other for years, so he thought that it was serious enough. ( there was also the fact that simmons had already met his mother, and this whole thing was really more of a formality than anything, but that was unimportant )

The trip went smoothly. Fitz’s childhood home was small, and with three people, a bit cramped, but neither Fitz nor Simmons minded. Simmons was happy to spend the holidays with Fitz and his mother - “Anything is better than where I was last year!” She’d joked.

The three of them celebrated New Years Eve together quietly, but neither Fitz nor Simmons found that they cared much. The TV that they watched the fireworks display on was small, and the video quality wasn’t great - especially compared to what they were used to - but getting to touch in with reality and, most importantly, getting to spend the holiday together made up for it. 

**2018**

No one was particularly in the mood for celebrating. The time that they had left to save the world was running out, Coulson was dying, and tensions were higher than they had ever been before. But, as Mack had told them all individually as he attempted to convince them to celebrate, that was exactly why this was necessary.

They didn’t know what the future held for them. They shouldn’t refuse to spend time together, not when the stakes of their current battle were so high.

The SHIELD team gathered, mostly reluctantly, in the main room of the Lighthouse as the clock counted down to midnight. Coulson tried to lighten the mood, but it didn’t really catch. Everyone was acutely aware that this would be their last new year with him. It was impossible to celebrate under those circumstances.

So, everyone milled about, more-or-less silently, until-

“Yeah, I  _ really _ don’t get that balls dropping things. And you guys just blow everything up once a year?”

Curious heads turned around to see Deke entering the room, caught up in conversation with Piper, completely unaware of the tension in the room he had just cut through.

“It’s not really blowing things up.” Piper tried to explain, but it was blatantly obvious that she was struggling.

Thankful for the interruption, Mack took a few steps across the room. “What’s this about?”

“He doesn’t  _ get _ fireworks.” Piper explained, pointing at Deke with her thumb.

“Hey! It’s not just the ‘fireworks’!” Deke protested, looking up at Mack. “This whole celebration doesn’t make any sense.”

Fitz began to grumble something under his breath, while Simmons took a few steps closer to the confrontation. “What doesn’t make sense about it?” She asked.

“‘Hey, look, our planet’s gone around the sun once so let’s set off explosives into the sky!’” Deke mocked, moving his hands empathetically. “You know, I’ve been starting to learn about  _ money _ \- it’s weird that you guys use little bits of paper, by the way. It sounds super impractical - and doesn’t blowing the sky up cost a whole lot?”

“You can’t  _ blow up the sky _ , Deke.” Fitz ground out, while Simmons shot her husband a placating look.

“Forget the fireworks.” Daisy finally said, joining the group. “The real beauty of New Years is the partying.”

That piqued Deke’s interest. “There’s partying?”

“Yeah. Starting the new year the right way.”

“Well, any reason to party is a good one, but- I still don’t really get it.”

“Seriously?” Daisy sighed.

“It’s just another day, isn’t it? There’s nothing special about it. I mean - why’d you pick  _ today _ to celebrate the new year, if you’re going to celebrate it anyway? It’s, like - none of this is real.”

“This isn’t the only New Year.” May spoke up from a short distance away. “Chinese New Year isn’t until February.”

“ _ That’s even more confusing _ .”

“Look, Lemons,” Mack put his hand on Deke’s shoulder to draw his attention away. “ _ Exactly _ what is it that’s confusing you the most?”

Deke frowned. “I suppose… I don’t see the point in any of it. It’s just a celebration for the sake of celebration on some totally random day.”

“Does there have to be a reason for it? The New Year - it gives us a chance to reflect on how things have been, and how we want things to be going forwards. It gives us a chance for a fresh start, to re-align our perspectives on our lives, and to let go of any baggage we picked up over the year. It’s a clean slate.”

Deke looked at Mack silently, processing his words. Then, after a few moments, he opened his mouth again: “I still don’t get it.”

“I give up.” Mack said, taking his hand off Deke’s shoulder and stepping back.

“I’ve got this.” Coulson said, taking Mack’s place. “Okay, Deke. You want to know why we picked this day to celebrate?”

“ _ Yeah _ . That’s what I’ve been asking for this whole time!”

“Centuries ago, the Earth was attacked by an armada of aliens on this day. We fought them off using our great fire power, and now, we shoot fireworks into the sky every year as a display of strength to show them that we are still strong enough to fight them off if they ever consider coming back.”

Deke listened to Coulson speak and nodded. “See,  _ that _ makes sense. Geez, you guys, why didn’t you just lead with that?”

Deke brushed past the group and walked up to the main screen, watching the countdown fall into single digits, and then continuing to watch as the fireworks lit up the screen.

**2019**

Years are just the way that humans measure how long it takes for their little, insignificant planet to orbit the sun. Time, itself, is just a social construct. It only has meaning if you give it meaning. And what meaning could there possibly be to something like ‘New Years’ in space?

It’s true that Simmons knew what the day was. It’s true that she’d been counting every day since Fitz had died. Or, ‘died’, is more to the point. Death is  _ it _ . The end. For lack of a better word, terminal. But Fitz was still out there, somewhere, so was ‘death’ really the right way to be thinking about it?

Voicing these thoughts was out of the question. No one else would understand. They’d just give Simmons those pitying looks that they always did. Fitz would understand them, she thought, but the fact that he wasn’t here to ask was the whole point, wasn’t it?

She sighed and set the star-map she had been analysing down on the counter in front of her. The stars were starting to swim in front of her vision - she wasn’t sure how long she’d been awake. Usually, it was easier to keep track of these things, but the others had left her alone for most of the day, most likely getting their own celebrations under way, so keeping track of the time had become more difficult.

Not that it mattered. Lately, she had just been working until she wasn’t able to work any more. Not knowing the time didn’t change that.

She carefully rolled up the star-map and stashed it back underneath her workspace. She cleared away everything that she’d used throughout the day so that she could easily find her tools in the morning, and left the Zephyr lab, heading back to her room to get a few hours of sleep before she woke and started the same routine all over again in the morning.

On her way back to her room, however, she bumped into another member of the crew. This wasn’t uncommon - the Zephyr was originally a plane. There was only so much room.

“Simmons,” Piper spoke up, “We need you at the bridge.”

Simmons frowned.

“I mean- uh- come up to the navigation area?” Piper tried again. “Daisy says it’s important.”

Simmons wanted to be able to get her handful of hours of sleep, but if something had happened, she would prefer to know now. So she followed Piper through the corridors of the Zephyr, up to the so-called ‘bridge’, where Daisy and Davis were waiting.

“Woah, you actually came!” Daisy spoke with a smile.

“What’s wrong?” Simmons asked.

Daisy gestured for her to come closer. Simmons walked over and looked at Daisy skeptically. Daisy pointed out of the window, and Simmons looked out, but all she could see was the same thing she could see every other moment of every other day that she had looked out of the window - the deep, endless void of space.

“What am I looking for?” Simmons asked after a few moments, beginning to grow frustrated.

“Just wait for it.” Daisy said, looking over Simmons and at Davis, who began to slowly turn the Zephyr around.

Outside the window, something new entered Simmons vision, and she had to squint against the bright light until her eyes adjusted. When they had, she could see the most beautiful display - a spectrum of different coloured lights, dancing around in the void.

“What… is this?” Simmons asked, her voice softer than it had been for months.

“Yeah, I have no idea.” Daisy laughed. “We picked up on it a few weeks ago. Thought doubling back here today would be a good idea.”

“Huh?” Simmons looked away from the window, looking up at Daisy with a small frown.

“I mean… I know that you and Fitz liked watching the fireworks together. I know that was the most important part of New Years to you. I can’t give you Fitz right now, and I can’t even give you fireworks, but… this was the closest I could find.”

Simmons eyes widened, and she looked away, back out at the lights, her mind slowly starting to work out what could be causing the fantastic light-show outside.   
  
  


**2020**

“Testing. Can you- can you hear me?” Fitz’s voice came over the speaker, and Simmons grinned.

“I can hear you. You’re right - I don’t know what you did, but the sound quality is a lot smoother.”

“Well, it was my fault that the sound quality was so poor in the first place.” Fitz grumbled. “I’ll send over the instructions for how to fix it on your end later.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Fitz. Everything else has been working just fine - and the sound quality wasn’t even that bad, anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Fitz accepted. Simmons could hear the sound of him moving, probably getting more comfortable wherever he was.

A companionable silence filled the air, before Simmons broke it with a sigh. “Does this all ever feel impossible to you?”

“Huh- wha- what do you mean?”

“All of this… I can’t help but wonder if we’re in over our heads.”

Fitz was quiet for a few moments, thinking. “What brought this on?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I just… I suppose I… don’t like spending today without you.”

“Oh? Do you miss me, Dr Simmons?” Fitz teased lightly.

Simmons rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I hate that I miss you even when you’re being smug about it.”

Fitz laughed quietly, before speaking more seriously. “I miss you, too.”

Simmons smiled sadly. “Yeah…”

Outside the Zephyr, Simmons could hear the distant fireworks signalling the turn of the New Year - though, she didn’t know how much meaning it should have to her. It wasn’t really  _ her _ new year.

“Happy New Year, Jemma.”

“Happy New Year, Fitz. Next time, I hope I get to say that to your face.”

**202x**

It took longer than anyone would have liked, but eventually, finally, the battle was won. The SHIELD agents returned to their home time, and Fitz and Simmons were able to reunite without fear of being pulled apart again. After the events of the past few years, the pair decided that field work wasn’t for them, and retired to the new Academy, where they were highly-regarded professors.

Now that they were away from the dangers of the field, they were able to continue on to other things that they had been looking forward to-

“I knew she wouldn’t be able to stay awake until midnight.” Fitz said, gently draping a blanket over his young, sleeping daughter.

“Maybe next year.” Simmons replied with a fond smile, watching from across the room.

Fitz finished making sure that his daughter was comfortable, and walked back across the room, sitting down beside Simmons and looking at the TV. It wasn’t much longer until the new year now, if the countdown on-screen was anything to go by.

As the countdown began to get closer and closer to zero, Fitz turned to look at Simmons. “Hey, Jem?”

Simmons took her gaze away from the screen and look up at Fitz curiously. Just when the countdown hit ‘zero’, Fitz leaned forwards and kissed Simmons. She was surprised, for a moment, but quickly returned the kiss, laughing into it.

After everything that had happened over the past years, they thought that maybe it had been worth it to lead them here.


End file.
